Downtown Berkeley South median real estate price is $1,213,859, which is more expensive than 78.5% of the neighborhoods in California and 95.4% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Downtown Berkeley South is currently $3,249, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 44.1% of California neighborhoods.
Downtown Berkeley South is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Berkeley, California.
Downtown Berkeley South real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) apartment complexes/high-rise apartments and small apartment buildings. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood are older, well-established, built between 1940 and 1969. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Downtown Berkeley South. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 27.2%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 93.3% of all U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, most vacant housing here is vacant year round. This can sometimes be the case in neighborhoods dominated by new construction that is not yet occupied. But often neighborhoods with vacancy rates this high are places that can be plagued by a protracted vacancy problem. If you live here, you may find that a number of buildings in your neighborhood are actually empty.
Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in Berkeley, the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
People
In a nation where 1 out of every 4 children lives in poverty, the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood stands out as being ranked among the lowest 0.0% of neighborhoods affected by this global issue.
In addition, an extraordinary 47.0% of the residents of the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood are currently enrolled in college. This is such a large part of life in this neighborhood that the neighborhood changes a great deal with the change of semesters and is far quieter during the summer when many students are away.
Modes of Transportation
In the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood, walking to work is a real option for many. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research reveals walking to and from work is the chosen way to commute for 32.3% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 99.2% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!
Also, if your dream is to be able to ride your bike to work each day, look no further than this unique neighborhood. With 7.1% of residents in the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood commuting on a bicycle to and from work daily, this neighborhood has more bicycle commuters than 99.1% of all neighborhoods in the U.S., according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis.
Finally, if you like to ride the train to work, this neighborhood may be for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that 22.9% of the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood's commuters ride the train to and from work each day, which is more than we found in 97.5% of America's neighborhoods.
Real Estate
The Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood is very unique in that it has one of the highest proportions of one, two, or no bedroom real estate of any neighborhood in America. Most neighborhoods have a mixture of home or apartment sizes from small to large, but here the concentration of studios and other small living spaces is at near-record heights. With 95.5% of the real estate here of this small size, this most assuredly is a notable feature that makes this neighborhood unique, along with just a handful of other neighborhoods in the U.S. that share this characteristic.
In addition, renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 99.1%, which is higher than 99.0% of the neighborhoods in America. If you were to buy and live in the property you bought here, you would be almost alone in doing so.
Furthermore, the real estate in the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood really stands out in the way it looks for a unique reason: this neighborhood has a higher proportion of apartment complexes or high-rise apartments than nearly every neighborhood in the country. Most neighborhoods are a mixture of real estate and housing types, but here it is almost entirely dominated by big apartment buildings and complexes. In fact, 90.0% of the real estate here is classified as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments, which is more than is found in 98.2% of American neighborhoods.
Also of note, the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood is very densely populated compared to most U.S. neighborhoods. In fact, with 37,864 persons per square mile in the neighborhood, it is more packed with people than 97.8% of the nation's neighborhoods.
Car Ownership
Most American households own a car or other vehicle. Many own two cars or perhaps three. In the United States, it is useful to have an automobile not only for commuting, but also for shopping and getting to other services one needs. But NeighborhoodScout's analysis revealed that households in the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood have a highly unusual car ownership. 41.7% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.2% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Occupations
Executives, managers and professionals make up 69.7% of the workforce in the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood which, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, is a higher proportion of such high-level people than is found in 95.3% of the neighborhoods in America. For this reason, this neighborhood really stands out as unique.
Diversity
Did you know that the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood has more Romanian and Asian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 2.3% of this neighborhood's residents have Romanian ancestry and 51.4% have Asian ancestry.
Downtown Berkeley South is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 29.0% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Chinese at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.6% of the neighborhoods in America.
Migration / Stability
Some neighborhoods have more internal cohesiveness than others. While other neighborhoods feel like a collection of strangers who just happen to live near each other. Sometimes this comes down to not only the personalities of the people in a place, but how long people have been together in that neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research has revealed some interesting things about the rootedness of people in the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood. In the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood, a greater proportion of the residents living here today did not live here five years ago than is found in 97.9% of U.S. Neighborhoods. This neighborhood, more than almost any other in America, has new residents from other areas. What is also interesting to note, is that the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood has a greater percentage of residents born in another country (42.9%) than are found in 95.3% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood in Berkeley are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 80.3% of U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America's neighborhoods.
A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.
In the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood, 69.7% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 18.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (6.5%), and 5.6% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
Languages
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood is English, spoken by 54.2% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese, Langs. of India, Russian and Tagalog (the first language of the Philippine region).
Ethnicity / Ancestry
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood in Berkeley, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (51.4%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (8.0%), and residents who report English roots (6.9%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (4.3%), along with some German ancestry residents (4.1%), among others. In addition, 42.9% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (35.9% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (32.3%) hop out the door and walk to work to get to work. In addition, quite a number also take the train to get to work (22.9%) and 16.8% of residents also drive alone in a private automobile for their daily commute. This is a special neighborhood for the number of people who walk to work. Combining exercise, low cost, and reduced pollution, plus the chance to see your neighbors, walking to work is fairly uncommon in America but likely to increase as people try to reduce their dependence on automobiles, and this neighborhood offers that opportunity today.
